Staffing levels, Pay settlements, Lithuania, Greece
Health union in national protest
The POEDHN health workers’ union, supported by the ADEDY public sector trade union confederation, organised a national demonstration on 22 February with calls for urgent action on health service funding. The union is demanding increased staffing and measures to address the widespread use of precarious contracts across the health service. It is also continuing to campaign for better pay and conditions with many health workers facing low pay, often little more than the minimum wage. This is a long-term legacy of austerity with pay cuts imposed in 2009 and pay frozen since 2015.
Average pay increase of 14% for unionised health workers
The LSADPS health workers’ union reports that its members in public health will benefit from pay rises of around 14% from the beginning of this month. This is based on the collective agreement negotiated by the LSADPS and eight other health sector trade unions in 2021 and updated in October of last year. Along with higher basic pay there are increases to the coefficients on which salaries are based and these will apply to the members of the trade unions that have signed the agreement. The average increase for all health staff will be around 8%.
Confederation calls 24-hour strike for 6 April
The ADEDY civil service trade union confederation has called a national strike on 6 April over pay, jobs and public sector funding. It argues that with inflation at a 25-year high of 7% public sector salaries need to be increased immediately. There has been no increase since 2009 when salaries for many public sector workers were cut by 40%. ADEDY is also calling for reinstatement of 13th and 14th month salary payments and an increase in, and extension to the special allowance for arduous and dangerous work. The confederation’s other demands include urgent action to recruit permanent staff to
Health unions negotiate collective agreement with major boost to pay
EPSU affiliate the LSADPS and eight other medical trade unions organisations have negotiated a new three-year collective agreement that runs from 1 January 2022 and covers workers from the entire health sector, who are members of the trade union organisations involved in the negotiations. This is the first time all trade unions have come together to sign one sectoral collective agreement. A combination of factors mean that wages are set to increase by an average of 10.9% in 2022. There is also a commitment to ensure funding for wage increases to prevent a recurrence of the delay in wage rises
Prison services union takes action over safety and staffing
The OSYE prison services union took six days of strike action at the end of February and beginning of March over key demands on safety and staffing. The union is particularly concerned about staff on long working hours and the massive backlog of rest days and holidays that are owed to workers who have done extra shifts to compensate for understaffing. EPSU sent a message of solidarity.
Major breakthrough as unions sign agreement for social service workers
Public service unions have made a major breakthrough after three years of negotiations following the signing of a sector collective agreement covering workers in social services. Around 1000 social workers, social worker assistants and home care employees will see a range of improvements to pay and conditions, including a 4.3% rise in the minimum coefficient used to calculate salaries along with further increases for specific groups of workers. There are other measures to compensate workers covering for absent colleagues and for using private cars. The agreement will only apply to union